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Brood lord
The brood lord is a powerful zerg flying unit. Overview Brood lords are massive manta-like flying creatures that serve as the Swarm's aerial siege units. They are used only in the largest of conflicts. Physiology The brood lord was originally morphed from the corruptor.Brood Lord, accessed on 2011-01-18 The glowing bulbs on the brood lord's back are an evolution of the cancerous growths in the corruptor's tentacles. Alterations at the genetic level turned the growths into sacs capable of rapidly spawning large batches of broodlings. Its tail is also derived from the corruptor, namely its statocyst. The brood lord's tail structure (including the spikes) constitutes a large biological gyroscope that maintains the creature's level and orientation. The tail is directly linked to the brood lord's sensory organs, increasing its capability to locate prey. Bone spikes located on the frontal section of the brood lord's wings house an advanced glandular system capable of emitting and receiving high-frequency electrical pulses. With each pulse, a massive spherical field radiates from the creature, coating its surroundings and targets in bio-electric energy. Afterwards, the brood lord's acute receptor glands pick up and process the gathered data. During deep space flights, the glands mutate to detect sources of radiation, electromagnetism, and light. In battle, if the Swarm gains air/space superiority, it is common for them to evolve their fleet of corruptors into brood lords en masse to help with the ground battle. Brood lords are also capable of adapting their biology to suit their theater of combat. During the invasion of a planet with exceptionally large seas, brood lords evolved to be more suited in aquatic combat, allowing them to chase their prey deep into the planet's trenches. Leviathan Brood brood lords retain the brood's pre-disposition for spikes, possibly as a result of Abathur's experimentation.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. Collections Tab: Skins. October 17, 2016 Attacks The brood lord releases biological symbiotes on ground targets. These small creatures regulate some of the brood lord's biological functions, and can also serve as living ammunition. The brood lord has clusters of broodlings squirming under its carapace at any given time. In combat, the brood lord supercharges the broodlings’ aggression and metabolism, turning them into short-lived—but very effective—air-to-ground weapons. Each broodling starts out as a projectile, inflicting initial impact damage. But once on the ground, they enter a frenzied melee assault, tearing through personal armor and vehicular plating with ease2015-01-16, Brood Lord Science. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2015-01-20 until they reach the end of their short lifespan or are destroyed. Left unmolested, a brood lord will disgorge a steady stream of broodlings capable of ravaging even large armored units in quick succession. However, brood lords themselves are not very durable, and are vulnerable against aerial-strike combatants. Brood lords have also been know to ram at ships with their mouths. Robinson, Andrew (w), Sepulveda, Miguel (p, i). "StarCraft: Soldiers: Issue 4" StarCraft: Soldiers 4''' (7) (April 24th, 2019) Dark Horse Comics. Brood lords enslaved by the Cerberus Program were able to re-engineer the nervous systems of the brood lords and the broodlings they spawned to be controlled by a distant terran commander.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. Collections Tab: Skins. July 19, 2017 History Brood lords are one of the latest additions to the Swarm, replacing the guardian of previous conflicts.Barba, Rick. StarCraft Field Manual (hardcover). Insight Editions, November 17, 2015. The genetic templates for multiple strains of zerg were lost during the Second Great War when the Swarm fragmented after the , including those for the corruptor and the brood lord. The brood lord's template was reacquired from feral brood lords at Sigma Centari, a Terran Dominion defense platform. With the viper, it became one of the strains based on the mutalisk.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Heart of the Swarm, Mutalisk Evolution (in English). 2013-03-12. A small number of brood lords were integrated into the primal zerg packs, resulting in a strikingly different creature most notable for its unusual claws.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. Collections Tab: Skins. October 17, 2016 By 2505, the brood lord was once again evolved from the corruptor via the genetic remnants of corruptors preserved in greater spires. During the Defenders of Man Insurgency, a number of feral brood lords were lured to Antiga Prime via the Defenders of Man's psi-emitters.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Nova Covert Ops, Flashpoint (in English). 2016-08-02. Game Unit |game=SC2 |image=BroodLord SC2 Head1.jpg |imgsize=250px |imgdesc= |image2=BroodLord SC2 Rend1.jpg |imgsize2=250px |imgdesc2= |race=Zerg |faction= Zerg Swarm Amon's Forces (Co-op Missions) |campname=''Wings of Liberty'' Heart of the Swarm Legacy of the Void (versus) Into the Void Co-op Missions Nova Covert Ops |baseunit= |role=Heavy Siege Flyer |useguns=Broodling Strike |usearmor= |energy= |engyregen= |timedlife= |size= |type=*Air *Biological *Massive |armortype=*Armored |transcapacity= |transsize= |sight=12 (Versus) |detect= |broodling= |costmin=150 |energycost= |costgas=150 105 (at Kerrigan full Reduced Combat Unit Vespene Gas Cost Mastery) (Co-op) |supply=4 |campcost= |time=24 15 (Co-op Missions) |produced= |parent= |evolvesfrom=Corruptor Mutalisk (Heart of the Swarm, Co-op Missions) |req=Greater spire |hotkey=B |speed=1.97 (Versys) 1.88 (Co-op) |accel=1.063 |lataccel=0 |decel=0 |creepbonus= |creepmultiplier= |collision=1 |shield= |shieldregen= |hp=225 |hpregen=0.2734 |armor=1 |gun1name=Broodling Strike |gun1strength=20 per broodling (shoot 2 broodlings for the first attack and 1 for the subsequent attacks) 20 per broodling (shoot 2 broodlings per attack) (Co-op Missions) |gun1attacks= |gun1ground=x |gun1air= |gun1cool=1.79 (Versus) 2.5 (Co-op) |gun1range=9.5 (WoL/''HotS) 10 (LotV/Co-op) |gun1upgrd=+2 |gun2name= |gun2strength= |gun2attacks= |gun2ground= |gun2air= |gun2cool= |gun2range= |gun2upgrd= |addons= |evolvesto= |produce= |allows= |research= |ability= |priority=20 |killscore=275 |makescore=550 |lostscore= |notes= |structure= |hero= |campaign= |npc= |cancel= |nocat= |concatbott= |concattop= }} Brood lords are the only unit to gain an attack bonus from both Flyer Attacks and Melee Attacks upgrades, as well as both Flyer Carapace and Carapace. This is received indirectly through the broodlings being upgraded by Melee Attacks and Carapace. Brood lords replace guardians as the zerg aerial bomber. Like the guardian, it has a long-ranged ground attack and no defense against air units. Brood lords launch broodlings; the broodlings do damage upon impact, and then act as separate timed-lifespan ground units. Brood lords can sustain a stream of single broodlings; the first attack after a break launches two broodlings. Unless the enemy uses extensive micro-management or air-to-air fighters, the broodlings are an excellent distraction for ground-to-air units on top of the damage boost. Left unchecked a relatively small group of brood lords can end up doing catastrophic damage to an enemy base since very few enemy units or turrets will end up actually firing on them. Compared directly to other "siege" units the brood lord is a powerful late game option. Like other siege units it can out-range defense turrets, but it's ability to fly gives it several advantages over the others. For one, most of the other siege/anti ground units can't even fire on it. Flight also gives it even better mobility than immortals by letting it pass clean over truly impassible terrain, such as lava lakes and deep canyons, letting them attack enemy bases from usually unexpected directions. A group of brood lords supported by anti-air units such as corruptors or even baseline mutalisks can be very difficult to stop. However, brood lords on their own are slow and immobile, and are vulnerable to attacks from vikings and phoenixes. If anti air units such as stalkers are able to get under them and focus fire, they can be brought down with relative ease. Their high cost and high place on the tech tree also makes it hard to amass a critical number of brood lords without also investing in other units to defend from harassment and timing pushes in PvP. Versus Upgrades and Abilities Heart of the Swarm In the ''Heart of the Swarm campaign, the brood lord is one of the evolution choices for the . Choosing the brood lord prevents the use of the viper. The Viper is akin to a Corsair, purely anti-air barely more capable than a mutated Mutalisk with some ground disruption and the ability to move ground units to itself, but this is still barely helpful in comparison to a swarm of Brood Lords that can easily level entire bases over time, including ones that the campaign commanders say "Don't attack there it's too well defended". Legacy of the Void Brood lords do not appear in the main Legacy of the Void campaign, as enemy zerg utilize the guardian instead. However, void shades can take the forms of brood lords. Brood lords are usable in the Epilogue mission "Amon's Fall." Co-op Missions Brood lords are usable by Kerrigan in Co-op Missions. They evolve from the mutalisk once the player controls a greater spire. Kerrigan's brood lords attacks spawn two broodlings with each attack. Stetmann can create an enhanced strain of brood lord named the mecha battlecarrier lord, combining a brood lord with the abilities of the carrier and battlecruiser. Upgrades and Abilities Development During the development of StarCraft II, it replaced the swarm guardian.Dustin Browder, Lipton, Karune. 2009-04-22. The Official STARFEEDER Starcraft 2 Q&A. Starfeeder. Accessed 2009-04-22. At some point it possessed the name Mantalisk.2010-02-28, StarCraft II Beta Game Images. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed on 2010-05-23 The combat role of the brood lord fluctuated for a very long time. Many variations of the guardian were presented but the intention was always clear that the development team wanted more out of this new flyer. Finally out of the blue, Samwise Didier concepted the brood lord like a bolt of lightning and thus the design team created the 3D art in accordance to his concept. The head design was lifted from the scrapped morphalisk.2010, Starcraft 2: Zerg Broodlord. Deviantart, accessed on 2011-07-20 The brood lord's frenzied ability was added in the context of swarm host matches, coupled with mass spore crawlers. As swarm hosts were altered in Legacy of the Void to be more mobile, the ability was deemed unncessary.2015-05-11, Legacy of the Void Beta: Balance Update Preview - May 11. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2015-05-21 Variants *Mecha battlecarrier lord (terran replicant) Images ;Skins File:NormalBroodLord SC2SkinImage.jpg|Brood lord skin BroodLord SC2-HotS Game2.jpg|''Heart of the Swarm'' campaign appearance File:AquaticBroodLord SC2SkinImage.jpg|Aquatic brood lord skin File:LeviathanBroodLord SC2SkinImage.jpg|Leviathan Brood brood lord skin File:PrimalBroodLord SC2SkinImage.jpg|Primal zerg brood lord File:SimulantBroodlord Skin Game1.jpg|Simulant brood lord File:CerberusBroodLord SC2SkinImage.JPG|Cerberus brood lord ;Portraits File:AquaticBroodLordPortrait SC2 Game1.jpg|Aquatric brood lord portrait File:Broodlord SC2-LotV Head3.jpg|Leviathan Brood brood lord portrait File:Broodlord SC2-LotV Head4.jpg|Primal zerg brood lord portrait File:Broodlord SC2-LotV Head5.jpg|Simulant brood lord portrait File:CerberusBroodLordPortrait SC2SkinImage.jpg|Cerberus brood lord portrait References Category:Swarm zerg breeds